andrea canning: for rachel, those long trips to north carolina to search for her son continue. a promise is a promise, and one she intends to keep until she can bring james home and bury him next to his brother. every step i take out here, i'm walking with grief. to finally take away the "where are you?" is when our peace and our healing will begin. you'll keep making those drives? mm-hmm. that's all i got left to give him. and he's worth every mile. [theme music] . i'm craig melvin. and i'm natalie morales. and this is "dateline." a phenomenal, amazing person.

she loved those girls. they were sweet little twins. her pride and joy. its hard. its really hard. craig melvin : pretty, poised, perfect. her twins were her world. lynda whitehead: they were so precious. catie beck: the three of them were a very tight unit. they were all she had. she was all they had. craig melvin : then came that awful day. jackie dunn: these two beautiful sixteen-year-old girls had come home from school and found their mother murdered. catie beck: they were rocking back and forth, traumatized, disturbed. craig melvin : what had the girls seen that day? could they provide a clue to help crack this case? chris moon: we were told by the twins that nikki had a second boyfriend -- keith morrison: two boyfriends? chris moon: two boyfriends. craig melvin : jealousy, passion, revenge. lynda whitehead: she was fearful. yucca harris: she contacted the police.

craig melvin : what secrets might the twins reveal? catie beck: its terrifying. is it possible that this could happen? (exterior of residence at night; police car in residential neighborhood) lynda whitehead: i was shaking. oh, my god. oh, my god. you couldnt even imagine. craig melvin : hello and welcome to dateline.nikki whitehead wasa single mom working toward a brighter future.but that dream died when nikkiwas viciously murdered.her death left her teenaged girls seemingly inconsolable... and investigators committed to solving her murder. but the answer would prove elusive and in the end, difficult for even the veteran detectives to believe. here's keith morrison with "bad blood." keith morrison: once in a while, in a complicated life, a woman can get lucky.

which is why you're looking at a sweet little town called conyers, georgia. antique downtown ringed by gated communities, good schools, a sheen of new-ness. it was, really, pure luck that brought nikki whitehead to this house, in this quiet, safe neighborhood. just far enough away from atlanta, that capital of overheated ambition down the highway. here in conyers she could give her beautiful twin daughters a better life than hers. but of course luck, fortune, fate...can go either way. sometimes in ways very hard to comprehend. catie beck: everything about this goes against nature lynda whitehead: how could somebody do that? chris moon: it was definitely the bloodiest crime scene i've ever been to. keith morrison: in the next few minutes, you will know exactly when it happened, where it happened, how it happened. but of course the real question...is why it happened. and the answer to that as you will seeit's kind of complicated.

but that's how nikki whitehead's life was. yucca harris: i loved everything about nikki. keith morrison: yucca harris grew up with nikki. could see she was a wild child... and pretty and funand irresistible... yucca harris: nikki was-- to me, she was a phenomenal, amazing person. keith morrison: yes and she was effervescent, said nikki's mother lynda...bigger than life. lynda whitehead: she was the kind of person that when she comes in a room, she just take over the space, you know, with her personality, her laughter, keith morrison: but...when nikki was 12. hoo boy. a handful. lynda was a single mom with other kids at the time, so she agreed to let young nikki move in with della, nikki's grandmother. trouble was -- said yucca, della let the girl run wild - boys, parties. yucca harris: -- we grew up kinda fast. keith morrison: uh-huh yucca harris: and then later she became pregnant at the age of -- 18 or 19. keith morrison: yeah. yucca harris: so we moved kinda fast. keith morrison: yeah.

yucca harris: yeah. keith morrison: pregnant with identical twins whom she named jasmiya and tasmiya. jazz and tazz. born in 1993. the twins' dad was around briefly, then gone. and their mother-figure? well nikki's grandmother, della. nikki's mother lynda didn't like that. lynda whitehead: i wanted nikki to get her own place, establish her own life and my mom would discourage that. she would, you know, find ways to tell her, "no, you're better off here." keith morrison: that's how it went -- for years. nikki had learned to style hair -- was doing well at it. and eventually saw the possibilities of independence. keith morrison: so she eventually wanted to kinda get out from della's-- yucca harris: definitely. keith morrison: --control, right? yucca harris: she did. she-- she wanted to-- as the girls got older she definitely wanted to-- take control of her life. keith morrison: and then one day in 2000, nikki was shopping at the mall...and

robert head just happened to be...in exactly the right spot. robert head: i was sittin' on the fountain one afternoon, about 6:00. and there walks-- nikki comin' in to the mall. keith morrison: you're eye just caught- robert head: and-- keith morrison: --right? robert head: yes. she was-- i say, "i just can't let her get away." keith morrison: that he was old enough to be her father? didn't matter. robert was in love. so he persuaded her to go to dinner, that very night. he took her dancing. he bought her nice things --treated her like a lady. robert head: she was my movie star. that's what i call her, my movie star. keith morrison: his movie star with two sweet daughters he also soon lovedas if they were his own. and that's how nikki came here to safe, secure conyers. this is robert's house. and here they made a family. unusual, in some ways, as you will hear...but: robert head: it was nice. it was-- it was really nice. everything clicked just right.

keith morrison: and she wanted to get even better. so, while she kept her job as a hair stylist...she enrolled in atlanta's bauder college to study fashion design. ronda: that's when i actually learned that nikki was a hairstylist. keith morrison: ronda anderson taught a couple of nikki's classes. she thought nikki had a sense of purpose -- whether it was about her kids, or fashion... or other people's hair. ronda: i came in the class early one day, as i normally do. and she looked up at me, and said, "miss anderson, what's goin' on with your hair?" and i said, "what? excuse me?" and then she asked me this question. "do you have a hairstylist? and does she know have your hair lookin' like that today?" and i said, "yes and no." and she said, "miss anderson, i'm givin' her one more chance. one more chance. and if it's not right, i'm takin' over." keith morrison: ronda loved nikki. and nikki loved her girls. she put the twins in dance and music classes. at school ...they won awards. catie beck: their teachers describe them as almost angelic, sweet and happy and engaged.

and there's pictures of them, you know, one on each of nikki's arms. keith morrison: catie beck was a reporter at nbc affiliate, wxia in atlanta. catie beck: teachers described them that way, that they had a sweet demeanor in their classrooms, and with their classmates, and-- they were almost timid. keith morrison: and then ...as they reached their teens.. they changed, somehow. in the ways children often do. in the way nikki herself once did. and, just like nikki, the twins were sent to live for a couple of years with the rather permissive family matriarch...della. keith morrison: until... 2010, when nikki welcomed tazz and jazz back. all together again in robert's house... a fresh start. and nikki turned up at school beaming. ronda: yeah, she was in a very good mood. she looked great. she had, you know a new look with her hair she had braids in and she was happy.. keith morrison: as if the braids in her

hair were kind of announcement... her girls were back.. yucca harris: they were pretty much her pride and joy. keith morrison: oh, you started thinkin' about her? yucca harris: yeah, it's hard. it's really hard. keith morrison: it was january 13th, 2010. a sheriff's deputy happened to be in the neighborhood. the girls had just come home from school. the deputy saw a look of horror on their faces --- heard their screams --- as they came pounding on his car. jackie dunn: -- one of the twins ran up and-- literally beat on the side of his car. and told him that they had come home from school and found their mother murdered. craig melvin: coming up craig melvin : two distraught daughters... are about to reveal a clue: detective chris moon: we were told by the twins that nikki had a second boyfriend. keith morrison: two boyfriends? detective chris moon: two boyfriends. craig melvin : when dateline continues. keith morrison: wednesday afternoon, january 13th, 2010.

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detective chris moon: as we walked in... keith morrison: the mess that greeted arriving conyers police detective chris moon told a terrible story detective chris moon: this was a long, drawn-out fight. they-- nikki was fighting for her life for several minutes. this was not a quick attack and over with. she fought here, she was struck in the back of the head. she had a laceration to the back of her head. there was blood on the door, on the door handle as if-- keith morrison: as if she-- somebody tried to get out or she-- yeah-- detective chris moon: --was trying to get out, yeah. and then along this wall you could see a bloody imprint of hair braids, which, nikki had her hair in braids. where she fell, slid down the wall-- the most severe blows came when she was face down in this area -- this is clearly where the assailant got on top of her from behind and started stabbing the base of her neck keith: and a huge amount of blood. chris: yes, this was the largest pool of blood was in this area right here. keith morrison: she was dead, or near-dead, when her assailant dragged her to the bathroom.

and that's where she was... in a tub of water. what her daughters saw, before they ran to the street screaming. jackie dunn: as we get there, you have these-- two beautiful, young 16-year-old girls that discovered their mother murdered. keith morrison: conyers police captain jackie dunn wanted to get jazz and tazz away from the house. and that's when he noticed .. they were hurting themselves. jackie dunn: one of 'em was biting their arm and we're like, "hey, why are you bitin' your arm?" and she said, "i'm just so upset. i do that when i'm upset." keith morrison: this was the worst kind of case: detectives need information fast -- but how do you get it from children who have just left their dead mother? jazz: i hurt catie beck: they were going in and out of fits of tears and crying jazz: i want my grandma. and-- asking for their mom. jazz: i want my mamma catie beck: they both seemed to be rocking back and forth-- you know, contemplative, traumatized--

disturbed. tasmiyah whitehead: it'll be okay jasmiyah whitehead: i want grandma. tasmiyah whitehead: it'll be okay jackie dunn: i can remember thinking-- "man, i hope there is a suitable family member to adopt these girls, 'cause they-- they really need-- somebody to-- reach out and-- and be good parents for 'em." keith morrison: word spread through the late afternoon gloom. a friend called yucca harris. yucca harris: she had asked me, "when was the last time i talked to nikki?" and i said, "well, i talked to nikki saturday." she had told me that-- "you may want to go over to her house," because she said that helicopters were there and the news reporters. and so-- keith morrison: tell me-- when you heard that, what did you think? yucca harris: i don't know. it was like tunnel vision. i was just in slow motion. keith morrison: yucca called nikki's mother lynda, told her something bad was going on over at nikki's. lynda whitehead: i was so nervous. i didn't know what to do. i was, like, "oh, my god. oh, my god." i was just shakin, i could hardly drive.

keith morrison: lynda pulled into her daughter's neighborhood-- and saw a police officer. lynda whitehead: he said, "ma'am, can you pull over there." i said, "no, i need to go to my daughter's house." he said, "ma'am, will you just pull over there, please." and i pulled to the side. i said, "what is goin' on?" he said, "ma'am, the only thing i could tell you is your daughter has expired." keith morrison: there is no getting over news like that. as nikki's family tried to take it in -- investigators set to work figuring out who did this. the girls said their mother was still in her room with the door locked when they left the house for school at 7:30. jasmiyah whitehead: we missed the bus, so we had to walk. keith morrison: perhaps the crime scene would yield more clues than the girls could.

lt. chris moon headed back there. detective chris moon: we're looking for-- cell phones, computers, indications, you know, typically-- victims are gonna have called or spoken with-- their assailants - just before the murder or around the time of the murder. keith morrison: the attack did not look random. it was not rape...but it was so violent. jackie dunn: that suggested rage, and when you look at a-- at a-- rage murder, it's usually somebody very, very close-- to the deceased. keith morrison: so naturally the first person they wanted to talk to was the man of the house, robert head. nikki's boyfriend. but robert...wasn't around. police: when is the last time you saw robert? tasmiyah whitehead: yesterday. he left. he came in on sunday. he stayed for a day. he left. keith morrison: here's the thing: robert was a long-haul truck driver. which explained his absence. but not where he wasespecially when nikki was murdered. jackie dunn: we had to find robert.

and we had to check on his--gps. keith morrison: and that takes a while, right? jackie dunn: yes, sir. keith morrison: meanwhile, detectives spread out through the neighborhood, knocking on doors. had anyone seen anything unusual? couple of neighbors said they saw a red car in nikki's driveway that afternoon -- a car they had never seen before. and a black car on the street too. they asked the girls... who could have been there? police: okay. does your mom have any other friends or anybody else that come over that you know of? jasmiyah whitehead: she talk to a lot of men. tasmiyah whitehead: she talk to some men. but the only one i been hearing her talk to lately is joe. keith morrison: joe? who was joe? chris moon: we were also told by the twins that nikki had a second boyfriend-- joe carter. keith morrison: two boyfriends? chris moon: two boyfriends. keith morrison: now that got the investigators' attention. time to dig a little deeper into the life of nikki whitehead. craig melvin : coming up: keith morrison: jealousy or bad blood involved? chris moon: they were clearly having an argument,

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catie beck: the girls put their arms around each other and, "it's gonna be okay. we're gonna find out who did this." they were-- they were clearly relying on each other to get through this. keith morrison: but they were able to convey some real information. detective: any idea who she was talking to? tasmiyah whitehead: it was joe. keith morrison: their mother had a second boyfriend a man named joe carter, a local barber whose shop was right next to nikki's salon. love triangle? sounded to veteran homicide detectives-- like a potential recipe for murder. first they talked to robert, boyfriend number one, who was on the road in his long haul truck. keith morrison: how did he react to the news? jackie dunn: oh, he was devastated. keith morrison: it was easy enough to check on robert. gps records put him a full day's drive away when nikki was murdered. and when they met him, as we did, they could plainly see... his grief was real. robert head: because that was my better half.

and she was gone. you know? it's-- it's a hard thing. keith morrison: this was how detectives discovered the unusual nature of robert and nikki's relationship. robert told them...he knew about the other boyfriend. it wasn't a secret. he didn't mind. he said he wanted nikki to be happy when he was away on the road. jackie dunn: he's a truck driver. when he was home, he expected for-- her and him to be a couple and when he was away, he realized that she was gonna have other relationships. keith morrison: but... what about joe? how did he feel about that? he was upset about something, said the twins. night before the murder, they said, joe and nikki had a nasty, loud argument on the phone. tasmiyah whitehead: all she told joe was that he couldn't come over there last night. keith morrison: was there some suggestion that there might have been, you know, jealousy or bad blood involved? chris moon: well, and that's what we immediately thought.

and so, obviously, he was a - immediate person of interest. keith morrison: so he was. and remember, a neighbor spotted a black car near nikki's house the day she was killed.. joe's car, perhaps? police: okay. you know what joe drives? tasmiyah whitehead: no. i know the black car in that driveway. and it's a black-black car. keith morrison: richard read was the rockdale county district attorney. da richard read: we needed to-- we needed to look at joe carter. especially since nikki and-- and joe had been in an argument-- they were breaking up. keith morrison: that's a dangerous time-- da richard read: it can be a dangerous time in a relationship. keith morrison: wasn't hard to track joe down. he was at the barber shop where he worked. joe carter: it was around closing time. we was ready to pack up and get out of there and they um approached um me and my friends then they basically said that she passed away. i mean she's dead. i was shocked. i was just in shock. keith morrison: what-- how'd he react when you came to see him? chris moon: he immediately started weeping.

keith morrison: he didn't know about the-- chris moon: no. keith morrison: or claimed not to know? chris moon: he claimed not to know. keith morrison: but reactions? don't always tell the real story. joe carter: they was basically asking about our relationship, when the last time i seen her, and um... i started to realize i was a suspect.... keith morrison: detective moon did what any good detective would do.. he looked for the sort of marks nikki might have left on her assailant's body. chris moon: looked at his-- he-- looked at his hands, looked at his arms. he took off his shirt keith morrison: but joe was clean-- not a suspicious scratch on him. and detectives learned that black car outside nikki's house didn't belong to him. still, they brought him in for questioning -- hooked him up to a polygraph. and asked him point blank if he killed nikki... da richard read: and the polygrapher determined that he was not deceptive in answering questions. joe carter: i wanted them to find the killer and i wanted them to know it wasn't me. keith morrison: so that's it for joe? da richard read: it appeared that joe was not involved in the death of nikki whitehead.

keith morrison: so two boyfriends... and two dead ends. keith morrison: you know, in addition to robert head and joe carter-- could have been a stranger. could have been another-- did you look into that possibility? jackie dunn: we did. keith morrison: yes and they still wanted to know who owned another car...a red one that was also seen in nikki's driveway the day of the killing. didn't take long to find out. it belonged not to a murderer at all...but a friend. jackie dunn: nikki had missed a hair appointment with this friend, and the friend had come by, knocked on the door and-- not been able to make contact with nikki and left. keith morrison: imagine...had she opened that door. such a grisly scene, so full of rage and passion. so who killed nikki? someone close? then, as they struggled to figure it out, investigators encountered, in their own police files, something rather stunning. craig melvin : coming up:

craig melvin : family secrets... there were a few yet to be revealed. yucca harris: it turned into a fight. keith morrison: a physical fight? yucca harris: a physical fight. and she contacted the police. craig melvin : when dateline continues. with dupixent, stay ahead of moderate-to-severe eczema. as you welcome the feeling of touch with clearer skin and less itch. the #1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists, helps heal your skin from within. severe allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for face, mouth, tongue or throat swelling, wheezing or trouble breathing. tell your doctor of new or worsening eye problems, like eye pain, vision changes, or blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma or other medicines without talking to your doctor. ask your doctor about dupixent. an alternative to pills, voltaren is a clinically proven arthritis pain relief gel, which penetrates deep to target the source of pain with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine directly at the source. voltaren, the joy of movement.

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i'm craig melvin. nikki whitehead fought back fiercely during the attack that ended her life. the blood trailing from her dining room to the bathroom revealed just how savage it was. but with little evidence pointing to a killer, the investigation seemed to stall. until, that is, a secret emerged from nikki's past. once again, here's keith morrison with "bad blood." keith morrison: the investigation into the murder of nikki whitehead was not offering up any "usual suspects." the two men in her life -- robert head and joe carter -- had been eliminated. and a home invasion seemed very unlikely in her gated community. chris moon: there was no histories of any, peeping toms. no histories of-- assaults in the neighborhood. so we just kept coming-- up to dead ends. keith morrison: thing is, they felt sure, this had to be a rage murder. so violent. so protracted.

which made it very likely it was someone nikki knew ...even, possibly, a family member. jackie dunn: so we started getting into some of the family dynamics. keith morrison: and that's when they turned up, in police files, this remarkable incident back in 2007: one brief snippet of family history...but an event that changed everything that came after it. dispatcher (911 recording): conyers 9-1-1 nikki (911 recording): yes ma'am. i just woke up and my daughter's gone at the house. keith morrison: that was the voice of nikki whitehead. dispatcher (911 recording): meaning your daughter was abducted? nikki (911 recording): i don't know ma'am. i woke up. the door was unlocked. she's just gone. i have twin girls. one of them is gone. dispatcher (911 recording): how old is your daughter? nikki (911 recording): oh lord. 13. keith morrison: you can hear her terror. nikki (911 recording): oh lord, my worst nightmare. dispatcher (911 recording): do you think maybe somebody came and got her? or do you think . . . nikki (911 recording): i don't know if somebody came and got her ma'am. she don't do stuff like this. i don't know. keith morrison: but a few hours later nikki learned that her daughters did do stuff like that. jazz had not been kidnapped.

she'd snuck out to fool around with a boy. da richard read: up until that day-- i believe in nikki's mind she had perfect girls. nikki realized that they weren't necessarily the girls that she thought they were. keith morrison: nikki was determined to help her girls avoid the mistakes she made at their age. so she cracked down. on curfew, on boys, on cell phone use. the following months would be familiar to many parents of teenagers. screaming, slammed doors, stony silences. and then one summer night in 2008 -- a year after jazz sneaked out of the house. yucca harris: a big argument. and it turned into a fight. keith morrison: a physical fight. yucca harris: a physical fight. it was tas and jas against their mother. and at that time i think she -- felt fearful. and she contacted police. keith morrison: was it the right decision...to call the police? that ensured the family ended up in juvenile court -- nikki asking the judge to help her

teach her daughters a lesson. instead? seemed to lynda - - the judge was blaming nikki. lynda whitehead: i guess the judge thought they were too cute and too smart that, nah, they couldn't be doin', you know-- he did not take it serious. keith morrison: what did he decide to do? lynda whitehead: well, he asked my daughter, he said, "would-- do you want your kids to come back home?" and she said, "no, your honor-- not unless they understand that i'm not gonna tolerate that kind of behavior. and so he was, like, "you mean to tell me you don't want your kids to come home?" keith morrison: what nikki wanted was a court-sanctioned demand that her daughters obey the rules. but that is not what she got. instead, the juvenile court judge sent the girls to live with... della. their great-grandmother. keith morrison: what were they doing while they were at della's house? catie beck: pretty much whatever they want. they kind of ran wild.

keith morrison: and got in trouble repeatedly -- in school and out. linda whitehead: shoplifting, smoking marijuana, seeing the wrong type of boys. yucca harris: well, she didn't want that. she knew-- you know, she was goin' back to when she was their age in her grandmother's custody. she didn't want that for her kids. keith morrison: seemed to nikki that della was undermining her and had somehow stolen away the daughters who mattered to her more than anything else in her life. yucca harris: she really wanted 'em back, really wanted 'em back. keith morrison: how did you know this? how did she express that? yucca harris: she said it every day. i want my girls. i'm going to fight for my girls. keith morrison: and in january 2010, nikki finally won. the judge ordered the girls back to niki's. and jazz and tazz? did not like it, not one bit. linda whitehead: so, they start screamin' and hollerin', "we don't wanna go back. why-- why would you make us go back?" keith morrison: in court they were doin' this? lynda whitehead: yeah. keith morrison: nikki told her mother not to worry.

lynda whitehead: she say, "i'll be fine. they'll-- they'll mellow out. they'll, you know, they'll come around." keith morrison: a few days after the court's decision, on a saturday night, nikki put on a welcome home party for the girls. yucca harris: they hugged me. you know, they kissed me. keith morrison: and that was the last time yucca saw nikki. four nights later, there they were jazz and tazz, answering the increasingly pointed questions of a couple of detectives. detective: can you tell me what happened when you got home today? keith morrison: it seemed a little odd that the girls were still wearing outdoor gloves. the detective asked...could you take them off, please? detective: it's just procedure since you were there. police: i need to see your hands and your arms. what happened here? jackie dunn: and when we did that, we did see-- a cut on one of 'em's hand. we saw bruising on the knuckles and-- and skin marks and-- bite marks. keith morrison: bite marks? jackie dunn: and we asked them to explain those. keith morrison: the bite marks could have been self-inflicted-- remember the girls were so upset on the way to the station they were biting themselves.

and the other cuts and scratches? the twins told the cops they had been fighting...with each other. police: you all fight? jasmiyah whitehead: yeah. we didn't get along yesterday. keith morrison: it was as they told their story, detective dunn took a good look at jazz and tazz. and a disturbing idea settled down somewhere in his brain. jackie dunn: i haven't made up my mind but-- but i'm suspicious. craig melvin : coming up: -suspicious-? were there reasons to be suspicious? chris moon: we watched the high school video surveillance, and you see the twins showing up about two and a half hours after they should have for school. craig melvin : when dateline continues. have you always had trouble with your weight? same. discover the power of wegovy®. with wegovy®, i lost 35 pounds. and some lost over 46 pounds. and i'm keeping the weight off. i'm reducing my risk.

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keith morrison: there's a look, a way of talking, that suggests a thing the spoken words most certainly do not say. as nikki whitehead's petite teenage daughters told their story, how they discovered their mother's body, how horrified they were, the detectives watched their eyes, their tear-less sobs, saw their bruises and cuts... and just... knew. jackie dunn: they're not-- behaving consistent with somebody that found their-- their mother murdered keith morrison: mind you, there's a hurdle a person has to overcome... to imagine that these two sweet teenagers might have been involved, somehow -- in what could only be called a slaughter. though nikki's mother lynda remembered clearly how angry the twins were --- just a week earlier --- when the court sent them back to nikki. lynda whitehead: when jas came out, she looked over at-- at my daughter and she said, "if i gotta go back home with you, i'm gonna kill you." keith morrison: you heard this? lynda whitehead: i heard this.

and it stunned me. keith morrison: but... teenagers sometimes do talk that way. doesn't mean they actually do anything about it. so the detectives set about fact-checking the twin's version of events on the day of their mother's death. starting with their claim that they had to walk to school that morning. jackie dunn: they told us that they had-- overslept a little bit. that they had missed the bus-- and had walked to school. keith morrison: it was a rush, said the girls, but they did get to school on time. police: made all your classes today? jasmiyah whitehead: yes. keith morrison: so cops did what the cops do: they checked surveillance tape from businesses along the route to school. and what do you know? da richard read: law enforcement had observed the girls walking down-- the roadway next to the gas station a little after 10:00 a.m. that morning. keith morrison: nowhere near on time... as the school surveillance camera confirmed. chris moon: we watched the high school video surveillance, and you see the twins showing up about two and a half hours

after they should have for school. keith morrison: so, the twins were caught in a lie. and it was a big one. but it wasn't proof of murder. they flatly denied any involvement in that. even when they were put in separate rooms they presented a united twin front. jackie dunn: they wouldn't sway. there was never any disloyalty to each other. they never said a negative comment about each other. keith morrison: getting one to flip on the other was not gonna happen? jackie dunn: no. keith morrison: after those interviews they released the girls. the juvenile court farmed them out to family and friends... and the police sent their dna, and photos of their injuries - like those apparently self-inflicted bite marks - off to the lab. and then they waited... pretty sure science would tell them that these sweet little girls were anything but. keith morrison: did they appear manipulative to you? da richard read: absolutely. i'll give you a for instance. jasmiyah is in one room, tasmiyah is taken to a smaller interview room.

it's apparent that tasmiyah knows there's a camera and there's a recording system in that room. and she starts to pray. tasmiyah (police tape): i really want them to catch this person. please, god. da richard read: she knew at some point in time, somebody would watch that video. and they would see a young, innocent, sweet girl asking god to help law enforcement find the person who did this. keith morrison: and meanwhile, at the glacial pace these things occur... the crime lab worked on the dna......and pored over those photos... of the bite marks. one, on tazz's arm, was the impression of a big, ugly bite. they compared the contours of that bite to a mold of nikki's mouth. the similarity was uncanny. chris moon: nikki was most likely the source. keith morrison: had their mother bitten them, trying to fight off an attack? jackie dunn: the bite marks on-- on taz's arm would be consistent is if she had-- her mother in a chokehold from behind. and that her mother, nikki, is bitin' her, tryin' to get away.

keith morrison: and... when detectives saw the twins biting themselves, right after the murder? maybe that was an attempt to cover up evidence. then the dna results came back. they knew they'd find nikki's blood. but, remember, one of the twins had fresh cuts on her hand. and, sure enough...in a smear of nikkis' blood mixed with her likely assailant's... a match. it belonged to one of the twins, but which one? chris moon: they were identical twins. they have identical dna so we don't know, couldn't tell for sure which twin the blood came from. keith morrison: by this time, the twins had been out in the world - without a word from the police for five months. wxia reporter catie beck. catie beck: i think those months built their confidence-- built almost an arrogance that, "we're gonna get away with this. keith morrison: so you can only imagine how it was. may 21st, 2010. just after school. keith morrison: how did they react to being arrested?

jackie dunn: shocked. they-- they thought it was over with. it had been five months since they had heard from us. keith morrison: the arrest was big news in atlanta. two sweet little girls, charged with the murder of their mother. who would have thought? catie beck: i mean, people were-- were riveted by this story. keith morrison: oh yes they were... and when the twins finally told their version of events that cold morning in january, the city was riveted all over again. craig melvin : coming up: craig melvin : the fatal struggle. did their mom start it all? tasmiyah whitehead (interrogation video): i kept telling her to stop: "just stop." craig melvin : when dateline continues. if you take or have taken humira for moderate to severe crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis and still have symptoms... you don't have to settle. ask your gastroenterologist if switching to rinvoq is right for you. it's one of the latest treatments from the makers of humira.

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keith morrison: it's a complicated thing - lots to do if you're a prosecutor preparing a murder case against pretty twin teenagers. and so da richard read was interested when, one day, defense attorneys suggested they wanted to make a deal. da richard read: and my response is, "it's great to hear it from you-- but i wanna hear it from them. and so i'd like to talk to your clients. i'd like to ask them questions." keith morrison: and that's how da read met jazz and tazz.. now 19-years-old ... and heard them confess.. they did kill their mother. but was it a confession, really? in fact, said the twins, it wasn't their fault.

she started it.. tas: she starts cursing and stuff, i think she was mad about us being late. keith morrison: that morning, they said, nikki was furious that they were late for school... and picked up a pot in the kitchen, they said, and swung it at them. jazz: she still calling us whores and sluts and everything like that and stupid and everything like that. and she threatened us, you know "we all going die today". keith morrison: that's jazz. and then tazz picked up the story da: so you took the pot away from your mom, what happened then? tas: she like kind of like charged forward. not at me though, at jas. keith morrison: now nikki had a knife, said the girls...they tumbled, room to room, trying to get it away from her before she cut one of them.... and in fact, said tazz, that's how her finger got cut. tas: i kept telling her to stop. "just stop, just stop, just stop". keith morrison: but she didn't, they said.

jas: so i'm trying to punch her i guess. and i think tas stabbed her. she stabbed her. and... detective: at this point in time, how many times did tas stab her? jas: it was once. keith morrison: at some point, exhausted... the twins said they all called a truce ... it didn't last long... da richard read: and they both describe mom lunges for the knife. and when she does it's on again. keith morrison: finally, said the girls, they overpowered their mother ... who stopped struggling... and moaned that she was cold. so they put her in a warm tub ... tried to soothe her...even though, they said, she was still spitting mad and threatening them. jas: kill me now and - or i'll kill ya'll." keith morrison: eventually, they said, she stopped talking... drifted off in the warm water ... and died. so, what did the da think after listening to the girls' tale of self-defense against a mother gone beserk? keith morrison: did you believe them?

did you believe everything they said? da richard read: no. still don't. keith morrison: the idea that nikki launched an attack on her own daughters? difficult to believe, said the da. sheer nonsense, is what nikki's mother called it. lynda whitehead: my daughter never have hit her kids. they-- they never had a spankin', more or less. anybody that know nikki know that wasn't her behavior. keith morrison: it was very clear, said the detectives who worked the case, that in fact nikki was the victim of an unprovoked attack. she had at least 45 stab wounds... her spinal cord was almost severed chris moon: nikki fought for her life. we think she-- fought defensively. you can see where she's on her back some of the time fightin' off-- people that are attackin' her from above with knives. keith morrison: as for the girls claim that they put their dying mother in the tub to keep her warm... as they watched her fade away? fiction through and through... said the police.

chris moon: we think she was dead before she was placed in the tub. or she would have bled into the water and the water would have been bloody. they were puttin' her in the water, tryin' to wash off the crime scene, wash off the evidence. keith morrison: in truth, said the detectives, these girls were remorseless ... defiant... brilliant little actresses. remember how they sounded just after their mother's death.... jasmiyah: i want my mommy tasmiyah: i really want them to catch this person, please god. keith morrison: listen to the little darlings when they didn't know they were playing for the cameras. keith morrison: this was recorded in the back of a squad car just after their arrest. sweet little girls? hardly... twin 1: they got ----- evidence. they can't do nothing with shitty evidence like this. man get real. twin 1: did you find a murder with my fingerprints on it? or something? man it'd be different if they said "i found a murder weapon." please do that! please find a murder weapon. twin 1: thank you! catie beck: they are aggressive, they are

angry ...they are combative. twin 2: these ----- rednecks, dumb, dirty ---- cops did this -----. keith morrison: oh, and and one more thing. tucked away in one of the girl's bedrooms police found this journal. inside, in childish handwriting: a death sentence. they were notes to each other, said the da, written just before the killing: "she don't care...she selfish... we gotta get rid of her." to which the other twin responds... "that's what i think also. she gotta go asap." da richard read: it may be the most telling piece of evidence that the whole death of mom may have been premeditated. keith morrison: still, the da worried, maybe a good defense attorney could spin the family's turbulent history the juvie court drama, nikki's two boyfriends-- and somehow sell a jury on self-defense. da richard read: it would've been an ugly trial... and i think to some extent it would have been a misrepresentation of nikki's life. keith morrison: so, he didn't like it much,

but he let them plead guilty to the lesser charge-- voluntary manslaughter. 30 years for each. not enough, said nikki's mother lynda. lynda whitehead: "these children have killed my child brutally and you goin' to give them 30 years? they shouldn't even be able to walk the street. i know these are my grandkids, but come on now. i mean, if they can do this to their mom, god help us all. keith morrison: and the questions that go over and over in your head are like what? catie beck: how everything about this goes against nature, how the person that provides for you and raises you and loves you and gives birth to you-- how you could watch that person die in a bathtub and-- and lie about it. keith morrison: it was wxia reporter catie beck's reports that brought the story to an atlanta both horrified and fascinated. she, who first secured access to all those police video tapes exposing

these pretty little liars... for all the world to see... catie beck: it suddenly becomes clear that these girls have multiple personalities, that they can be whoever they need to be for their own purposes, that they can morph between-- a fragile, disturbed, innocent teenager into sort of this demonized criminal. keith morrison: those girls you knew, those sweet little girls. what happened to them? yucca harris: it's hard for me to even ---- i don't know. keith morrison: and nikki's mom, lynda whitehead.... carries the helpless grief with her every day. every sleepless night...without her daughter... without the grand-daughters she thought she knew.. lynda whitehead: i was so proud of them. and i knew-- and they a-- and they would-- talk about what college they wanted to go to. i'm sorry. keith morrison: that's okay. lynda whitehead: so i'm sittin' here 'n' everybody gone.

you know. keith morrison: that's an awful tough road. lynda whitehead: you can't even imagine. because every morning i wake up, i think about my daughter and my grandkids. it's just a tragedy. keith morrison: one about a mother who dared dream that her sweet gemini twins would surpass her who instead became their victim. craig melvin: that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline."my fam. that's in the movies. who would want him dead? someone came here with the intention to murder him.